Tucker, Wilkie Combine For a Fatherhood Tie
By Tom Jones
Darcy Tucker and David Wilkie have
been best friends for seven years. You rarely find
one without the other. They were even traded to
the Lightning together -- on Jan. 15, 1998.
Both are 24. Both come from the western part of
the continent. Heck, their biographies and statistics
are on consecutive pages in the Lightning media
guide.
But they may have carried this friendship thing a
little too far.
The two had daughters born less than two hours
apart Thursday night.
Wilkie and his wife, Jackie, celebrated the birth
of their second child when Mackenna Grace (7
pounds) was born at 7:15 p.m. At 8:54, Tucker and
his wife, Shannon, celebrated the birth of their
first child, Owynn Faith Victoria (6 pounds, 7
ounces).
"We've done everything else together, so why not
this?" Tucker said. "When we got pregnant, we
called (Wilkie and his wife) and told them. Two
weeks later, they called us, and David said, "You're
not going to believe this.' "
Even though Wilkie's daughter was born two weeks
early, Tucker and Wilkie think it's possible their
children were conceived on the same night -- in the
same hotel.
"I'm pretty sure my wife got pregnant at
(Tucker's) wedding," Wilkie said.
"I know my wife got pregnant the night we were
married," Tucker said.
Either way, the women had different labors. Jackie
Wilkie was in labor for 51 hours and Shannon
Tucker was in labor for about 17 hours.
"It's amazing," Tucker said about his daughter. "To
look at something so little, and it's like looking at
yourself is just amazing."